From densely populated cities to remote settlements, everywhere we live, we generate waste. Food leftovers, electronic waste, batteries, paper, plastic bottles, clothing, old furniture - they all need to be disposed of. Some end up re-used or recycled; others are burned for energy or sent to landfills. There is not a single way to manage waste that would work everywhere. How we do it needs to take into account local circumstances. After all, waste starts as a local issue. Given its sparse population, long distances between settlements and lack of road infrastructure, here is how the Greenland government approaches the country’s waste issue.

Through a series of legislative measures, EU policymakers aim to make Europe more ‘resource efficient’. But how does Europe strike a balance between the economy and nature? In the context of the Rio+20 conference, what does sustainability mean for the EU and the developing world? Here is one point of view.